


Even heroes have the right to bleed.

by vahanian



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-29 22:58:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10146575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vahanian/pseuds/vahanian
Summary: When somebody from Steve's past turns up intent on killing him, he will need his teams help if he is going to survive.





	

When somebody from Steve's past turns up intent on killing him, he will need his teams help if he is going to survive.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers. I am not making money from this.

Steve Rogers was unsure whether or not he liked this century. He had only been awake for three weeks before Director Fury had called on him to help fight the Chitauri invasion. 

Everything in this century was loud and bright and constantly changing. So many things were different now that what he was used to, for example, yesterday when he went to the market and asked where the apples were, the store clerk told him that they didn't sell apples, but they had a nice range of other phones if he wanted to see them. He had ended up leaving the market with his groceries and a brand new Nokia mobile phone, which he had no idea how to use.

But he still had no apples.

Steve sighed contently as he felt the cool September breeze blowing through his hair and under his leather jacket. It had been two days since the battle, and Steve was exploring the city. He had gone sightseeing on his first day and had a hot dog in the park. Today he had just been to the cinema, and he was amazed. He still couldn't get over the fact that the picture quality was so much more refined than it was in his day. Guaranteed that in those days he had never got to see the full movie, as he was always in an alleyway somewhere getting beaten up, because he could never learn to keep quiet.

He had just finished watching a film about a boy wizard who had magic. He had just gotten back to his bike, and was wondering what to eat for lunch, when his phone rang. 

Glancing at the number, he frowned as he didn't recognise it. Pushing the answer button, he brought the phone to his ear.

"Captain Rogers speaking." He answered uncertainly.

"Do you know that you even answer your phone patriotically? Did they teach you that in the army as well?" Asked an inquiring voice.

"Mr Stark." Steve asked in confusion, glancing down at his phone as if it held any answers.

"Yep, the one and only. I was totally hacking the S.H.I E.L.D database earlier, when I accidently came across your number. I didn't even know that you knew what a cell phone was let alone have one. But then I thought that Fury wouldn't be happy if he lost you somewhere, so here we are." Tony said all in a rush.

"Mr Stark, did you want something?" Asked Steve.

"Patience Capsicle, I was getting to that. Jeez you would think that being frozen in ice for the last seventy years would have taught you patience." Rambled on Tony, completely oblivious to the sigh that Steve was giving him.

"Tony just get to the point." Said an exasperated voice in the background, which had sounded suspiciously like Bruce. Steve silently agreed with him. Trying to get Tony to the point of his calling, was like trying to round up a group of cats with ADD. Impossible and you would only come away with a headache.

"Fine, fine. Cap I was wondering if you would swing by Stark tower. Well not exactly swing, more like walk in through the front door, and take the lift, but you get my meaning." Tony replied.

"What for?" Asked Steve suspiciously.

"You'll see." Was the cryptic answer before Tony hung up.

Pocketing his phone, Steve swung his leg over his bike and sat down. He debated just driving home, but he knew that Tony would keep ringing until he finally got his way. So turning the ignition, Steve pointed his bike towards Stark tower.

He pulled up outside Stark tower ten minutes later. He had to admit that the building was impressive. It was still undergoing construction work after Loki had destroyed it, but it was still remarkable. Climbing off his bike, Steve made his way to the entrance. He pushed open the door and stepped inside. The entrance was massive, Steve's apartment could fit in here and there would still be room to spare. Steve walked forward and stopped when he came level with the desk.

"I have an appointment with Mr Stark." Said Steve politely.

"Take the elevator on your left." Said the receptionist pointing to her left, at a door in the wall, without looking up.

"Thank you." Replied Steve as he walked towards the lift. Just as he drew near to it, the door glided open. Steve stepped into the mirrored room. The door closed softly behind him. 

Having never used or seen a lift before he was unsure of what to do next, so he just stood there.

"May I be of some assistance, Captain Rogers?" Came a disembodied voice from around him.

"Son of a gun." Said Steve as he looked wildly around him. "Who's there?"

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am J.A.R.V.I.S, would you like me to take you to the others?"

"Um, sure. That would be great thank you." Said Steve, as he felt the lift begin to move. After ten seconds, (Steve knew because he counted them), the lift glided to a stop and the doors opened. Thankful to be free of the strange room and its inhabitant, Steve rushed from the lift. He turned to watch the doors close.

"Hey Cap. I wasn't sure you'd even turn up." Said Tony's voice from behind him.

"Would you have left me alone if I had stayed away?" Asked Steve as he turned around.

"Nope." Said Tony cheerfully.

When he turned around, he saw Tony standing in front of him dressed in slacks and an old t-shirt. He was frowning at Steve slightly.

"What?" Said Steve.

"You look a little pale. Is Fury not giving you enough sun, cos I specifically told him to take you to the park for an hour a day exercise? We wouldn't want our national treasure to collapse because he got the dropsy or something." Said Tony.

"I'm fine. Did you know that your room talks?" Said Steve jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the closed door behind him.

Tony looked at him in confusion for a moment, before a grin appeared on his face.

"That was just J.A.R.V.I.S, he is an A.I. that I built to monitor the building, make sure all the numbers are ok, and that the building runs smoothly.." Tony stopped as he saw the confused look on Steve's face.

"He's my imaginary butler that appears when I summon him, he also looks after the building." Quipped Tony.

"Why am I hear Mr Stark?" Asked Steve choosing to ignore Tony's odd behaviour.

"Iwantyoutomovein." Said Tony quickly.

"I beg your pardon?" Said Steve.

"I want you to move in." Repeated Tony slowly. "Everybody else is here, Legolas and the scary lady moved in this morning, hell; I even managed to convince Thor to move in. It wouldn't be right without you."

"I have my apartment." Said Steve after a minute of silence.

Tony snorted, "Yeah right, and I'll bet that Fury likes to keep his eye on you 24/7. Hell I bet he has people following you all over the city, just in case something happens."

"No I don't think so." Said Steve as he turned to leave.

"Steve, wait." Said Tony reaching out a hand to catch Steve's jacket. "It's obvious that you don't want to stay because of me. On the helicarrier we both said some things, that was partly what we felt and partly Loki's sceptre, but I want you to know that I am sorry. If I ever thought that, I don't now. I've seen you in action. You were Captain America long before they gave you the serum." Said Tony.

"Thank you, Tony. I didn't mean what I said either. I judged you too quickly and harshly. Even if you took Ironman away, you're still a hero. One who would lay his life down to save the world, without a thought." Replied Steve sincerely.

"O.k." Said Tony with an exaggerated eye roll. "Now that this bromance moment is out of the way, what do you say Cap, will you move in?"

"Yes, let's give it ago." Said Steve happily.

"Whew that was lucky." Replied Tony. “I’ve already had your stuff brought over, and I kinda told everyone you were staying. Their all in the kitchen waiting for you." Said Tony proudly.

"What if I had said no?" Asked Steve.

"You wouldn't. I mean who can resist this?" Said Tony as he pointed at himself.

"Everyone." Muttered Steve loud enough for Tony to hear. They both laughed as they headed towards the kitchen.

*****  
Steve Rogers woke abruptly. He glanced quickly around his room and let out a sigh. He was still in 2012. Every time that he closed his eyes, he would always worry if he would wake up in the same timeline that he had fallen asleep in. Glancing at his clock on the bedside table, (that was installed courtesy of Tony), Steve saw that he'd had about three hours' worth of sleep. Musing on the fact that this was the longest nights rest that he had gotten in the last week, Steve pushed himself up out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. It still surprised him that a week after they had fought together, Tony had invited all the Avengers to come and stay with him, in what he had effectively called the 'Avengers tower'. Steve had been reluctant at first to except his offer, sensing that the billionaire didn't like him very much. In fact he was the last one out of their group to accept the invitation. It was only after he was approached by Tony and they had both apologised, that Steve had said yes.

After finishing up in the bathroom, and making sure it was clean, Steve left his room and headed over to the lift. His bedroom was on the seventieth floor, directly under Tony's. 

Walking into the lift, Steve watched the doors close. He didn't even react any more when J.A.R.V.I.S. started talking.

"Good morning Captain Rogers, where to?" Asked the A.I. politely.

"To the kitchen please." Replied Steve. Without even glancing up, Steve said, "Good morning Hawkeye."

"No fair, how did you even know I was here?" Asked Hawkeye grumpily as he jumped down from the ledge above the door.

"Because you have done the same thing for over a week now. I wouldn't be a very good solider if I couldn't tell when someone is trying to sneak up on me." Said Steve as the doors opened, to reveal the bright kitchen.

"Pay up Barton." Said Black Widow as Hawkeye sat down. Muttering to himself about damn super soldiers and their super hearing, he handed over a twenty to her.

Sitting down next to Bruce, Steve glanced around the table, convinced for the first time that he had made the right choice.

 

CHAPTER TWO.

Steve swung out at the punching bag with enough force to rattle the ceiling. He had gotten only a few hours of sleep that night before his memories had turned into nightmares. 

The most vivid ones were of Peggy and of being trapped in the ice. Despite what his teammates and SHIELD thought, he was awake after he had crashed into the ice, he could still remember the feeling of the cold completely encasing him and the feeling that he couldn't breathe. Mercifully, after about ninety seconds he passed out, only to awake seventy years in the future with everyone whom he had known, dead. Bucky, Peggy, Howard, the Howling Commandos, Colonel Philips. The list was endless. He swung again at the punching bag with enough force that it flew off its chain and sailed into the far wall, leaving a trail of sand in its wake.

"I thought I was bad when I was angry." Said an amused voice behind him.

Steve turned around as he slowly took off the bandages around his hands.

"Good morning, Dr Banner." Said Steve politely.

"I've told you its Bruce." He said as he pushed himself off the wall and walked further into the gym. "Are you alright?" he questioned as his eyes travelled over Steve's face. "You look terrible."

Without looking up, Steve continued to remove his wrappings. "I suppose I'm still adjusting to everything. It's a lot to take in." It wasn't a full lie, he was still adjusting to everything, but he didn't want to worry his friends with his sleeping habits.

Bruce continued to stare at him for a few more seconds, his eyebrows slightly raised as if he knew Steve was lying and was deciding if he should call him on it. He gave a slight nod of his head as he came to his decision. "Director Fury wants to see us in the briefing room. You can take a few minutes to get cleaned up if you want."

"Sure I'll see you there in five minutes." Said Steve as he picked up the broken punching bag, and swung it up effortlessly onto his shoulder.  
*****  
True to his word, five minutes later, Steve was walking into the briefing room where the rest of the Avengers were sat.

"Took you long enough spangles, what you do, stop for a steam?" said Tony jokingly.

Steve shot him a slight grin in return as he sat down, turning his attention to the holographic figure of Director Fury, that was standing in the middle of the room. Fury turned slightly so that he was facing Steve.

"At 0200 hours this morning SHIELD received a threat or, more specifically Captain America has received a threat." He said.

All eyes in the room turned to Steve, who was sat there with a puzzled look on his face.

"I have not been in this time long enough to make an enemy, except maybe Loki and he's still on Asgard." Said Steve, looking towards Thor for confirmation on the whereabouts of his younger brother.

"Loki can harm no one again." Boomed Thor.

"What did the threat say?" asked Bruce in a calm voice.

Director Fury opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak he was cut off by Tony, "I will destroy Captain America." He held up his hand held device.

"Stark will you stop hacking into SHIELD files." Said Fury with a weary sigh.

"Well stop making it so easy. 1,2,3,4 is not a secure password!" Replied Tony.

"We need you to remain in Stark tower until we find out who is responsible for this." Said Fury choosing ignore to Tony.

"How long will that take?" asked Steve.

"No more than two, three days tops Captain, we have all of SHIELD searching for this man, he cannot hide from us." Declared Fury proudly.

****  
As it turned out, it appeared he could. The two, three days that Fury had predicted had slowly turned into a week, which had then quickly morphed into two, at which point Steve was going crazy. He had been stuck in Stark tower for the whole two weeks of his 'imprisonment'. The only time that he had ventured to go outside was when he needed to go to the market. Tony had decided to come with him.

In full Iron man armour.

This in its self would not have been so bad, except that whilst in the produce aisle, machine gun fire had sounded around them, which prompted Tony to push Steve to the floor and start firing his lasers.

Everywhere.

When Tony had stopped firing and Steve had finally managed to get back up, he saw a six year old kid with a toy gun, completely plastered head to toe in fruit. He was staring wide eyed up at Tony, who simply grabbed Steve's arm and pulled him out of the store, patting the kid on the head as he went past, with a muttered, "Stay in school."

Needless to say Steve had not ventured out again after that.

*****  
Steve glanced at the clock on his wall and saw that it was only five thirty in the afternoon. He was alone in the tower, as all the other Avengers had been called to a crisis in downtown New York. As he was still on house arrest, Steve had been left behind.

Deciding that he needed a change of scenery, Steve left his room, making sure to grab his sketchbook before he left.

After getting frozen for seventy years, Steve had found that there were really only two things that reminded him of home. Drawing and cooking. In fact Steve used to love cooking and the one time that he had tried to make apple pie in Tony's kitchen, he had somehow managed to set fire to the oven, which prompted JARVIS to turn on the sprinkles and DUM-E to douse everything with the fire-extinguisher. Steve supposed that the situation would have been funny, if the other Avengers hadn't been in the kitchen with him. Which in turn led to a very annoyed and foamy Tony trying to explain to the fire department, that, no the Avengers did not need any help in making sure that their own tower didn't burn down. Needless to say that after that Tony told JARVIS to tell him if Steve as much as looked at the oven.

So, settling back into a chair on the balcony, Steve began to draw.

After what seemed like a few minutes, Steve heard a beeping sound. Looking up from his drawing of the New York skyline, Steve realised that while he had been sat there, evening had slowly began to creep in. The beeping had been coming from his Avengers phone, which usually meant that someone was in trouble.

"Hello." Said Steve, as he threw his sketchbook and pencils down and stood up quickly, knocking his chair over. Static filled his hearing, "Hello!" he shouted louder.

"Captain….SHIELD…. Avengers….are….repeat….Avengers are down."

"What, who is this?" Shouted Steve into his phone, but the other person was either gone or couldn't hear him as no answer came.

The phone fell from his hand as he raced from the balcony. He rushed to his room. Yanking open the door, he ran to where he kept his suit. He dressed quickly, all the time thinking to himself that he should have been with them. He couldn't lose another team, another family. He ran out of the tower and turned towards downtown New York.

*Meanwhile on Stark tower helipad.*

"Well that was fun." Said Tony as he waited patiently for his suit to be dismantled and put away.

"Please explain friend Stark as I see no reason as to why you gained any mirth from this experience." Shouted Thor loudly.

"He was being sarcastic Thor. It is a saying that we sometimes use." Explained Bruce.

"I see." Said Thor, although judging from his expression he didn't.

Tony glanced around the balcony as he walked down the steps.

"Whoa, what happened here?" asked Barton, as he saw the knocked over chair and thrown pencils.

"Steve looks like he left in a hurry." Said Natasha.

"JARVIS, where is Steve?" asked Tony.

"I am unsure; he left very suddenly, nearly one hour ago."

"Can you track his Avenger phone?" asked Tony.

"It is on the floor by your foot, Sir." Said JARVIS "and it appears there is a message on it."

Tony bent down to pick up the phone, he read the message and his face went really white.

"Tony, what is it?" asked Bruce.

Tony turned the phone around so that they could see the message, it read, "I told you I will destroy him."

 

CHAPTER THREE.

Steve stopped outside the building where some civilians had said that they had seen the Avengers go into. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Tony, Bruce?" Steve shouted. "Anyone here?"

Steve heard banging coming from one of the floors below him and he walked further into the room. When he had nearly made it to the middle, he heard a loud screech of metal on metal, and then the floor disappeared from underneath him.

Steve awoke a few seconds later to a throbbing pain in his side. He opened his eyes quickly and glanced around the room, what he saw made him stop. All along the floor, hammered into the concrete were long wooden sticks, sharpened at the top into a spike, and it was on one of these that Steve saw that he had landed, the sharp spike going straight through his side. He moaned loudly as he slowly began to pull himself up. He still had his friends to find.

"You really do not know when to give up, do you Captain?" said a slightly accented voice from above him.

Steve stopped his efforts as he tried to place the voice.

"Has it been so long that you have forgotten me, my dear Captain?" taunted the voice as it moved closer to Steve. "I heard that you crashed my beautiful ship into the ocean, entombing yourself in there as well. Oh well, they do say that a Captain must go down with the ship." Laughed the voice.

Steve glared angrily at the figure as it stopped in the doorway. Even though the light was behind him, making it impossible for Steve to see his face, he knew who it was. He would never forget him.

"Schmidt." Said Steve angrily.

"The one and only." Answered Schmidt as he stepped into the room.

"How did you survive?" asked Steve.

"The cube merely transported me to another dimension, and there I have waited for a chance to have my revenge, and then the God opened the portal and I slipped through. Imagine my surprise when I saw how the world had changed, that nearly seventy years had gone by." Said Schmidt as he walked forward. He grabbed Steve and pulled him up off the spike, Steve let out a scream.

Schmidt punched him, sending Steve crashing back into the spikes, breaking them in half, before he plummeted into the wall. His vision went black as his head cracked painfully against the wall.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Captain." Said Schmidt as he watched Steve get slowly to his feet.

"Yeah I'm getting that feeling." Said Steve, ignoring the blood that was running down his face.

Schmidt grabbed a broken spike and ran at Steve with a cry. Steve managed to dodge out of the way. He picked up his own spike.

"I would have been a God amongst men." Schmidt said as he swung his weapon like a club towards Steve's head.

"You would have enslaved the world." Steve said as he ducked.

"I was meant to rule, and I will rule again, after I have destroyed you." Schmidt said as he finally managed to hit him.

Steve's reaction times were getting slower as the wounds on his head and side started to drain his strength. He couldn't move out of the way quickly enough, as he saw Schmidt's weapon coming towards him, hitting him on the head. He fell backwards into the wall, and he gave a grunt of surprise when he felt another spike pierce his side pinning him to the wall.  
Steve felt himself falling in and out of consciousness as the pain began to take over. Because Schmidt had been given the super solider serum as well, his punches were just as deadly and painful as Steve's. His head snapped to the side as Schmidt punched him repeatedly.

"That is for destroying my plans all those years ago." He spat.

"Boy, you can really hold onto a grudge." Steve said as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Schmidt punched him again before he calmly bent down and picked up a spike that had broken into tiny pieces off the floor.

"You were alone in 1945 when I beat you and you are alone now. Goodbye Captain America." Schmidt said as he raised the spike.

Just as he was about to plunge the spike into his chest, it was shot from his hand by a mini rocket.

"Who said he's alone." Said an angry voice that sounded like Tony.

Steve turned his head and saw all his teammates standing there, looking murderous.

"Step away from our Captain." Boomed Thor as the Hulk let out an almighty roar.

"Ah, the so called Avengers. I have heard so much about you." Schmidt answered smugly. "Outcasts that play at being heroes, how easily you will make it for me to conquer you."

"Whoa dude, you need some serious plastic surgery." Hawkeye said as he peered around Tony so that he could get a better look.

"How dare you!" Schmidt said angrily, as he took a step towards Steve.

"Don't even think about it Red Skull." Tony warned. "I will kill you."

"You can't kill me." Shouted Schmidt as he plunged the spike into Steve's chest.

All Steve could see through the pain was a loud boom and then Schmidt hurdling backwards.

"Get medical down here." Shouted a voice as it moved towards him, and then he was staring into worried brown eyes.

"Howard?" said Steve groggily.

"Come on now Spangles, awesomeness like this didn't exist in the 40's." quipped the man. "It's Tony remember?"

Steve continued to stare at the Howard look alike.

"Where's Schmidt?" Steve asked.

"Dead." Replied Tony.

"Good" said Steve as he felt the darkness creep up on him, and the not Howard shout, "I need medical."  
*****

Steve awoke to the smell of antiseptic and beeping. Keeping his eyes closed he tried to make his sluggish brain remember why he was here. All of a sudden everything came back to him, and he sat suddenly up in the bed.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Steve, you're okay. Careful, or you'll pull open your stitches and Bruce will kill me." Said a voice to his side as he was gently pushed back on to the bed.

"Tony?" asked Steve as he looked up at him.

"Hey at least you remember me now, you were calling me Howard before." Said Tony as he sat back down slowly in his seat, as if unsure whether Steve was going to try and bolt again.

"Are you sure Schmidt is dead?" Steve asked anxiously.

"Yep, I did the honours myself." Said Tony with a dark look on his face.

"We thought he was dead before." Steve replied.

"Nope, he's definitely dead, as a dodo, a doornail." Tony answered happily.

After the silence had stretched for a few minutes, Tony cleared his throat, "You know, there's one thing that has been bugging me, how did he get you out of the Tower?"

Steve looked guiltily down at his hands, "He must have hacked my phone and he told me that all of you were in trouble." He said quietly.

"Oh, Steve. Next time ask JARVIS he knows where I am at all times. Although Schmidt probably would have gotten to you eventually. So next time that someone from you past turns up, we will take them on as a team, you don't have to protect us, we can protect ourselves. You are not alone anymore, you belong with us." Tony said.

As Steve drifted off to sleep, he felt that he had finally found his home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I wrote this awhile ago and thought I would post it on here.


End file.
